Michea B | Author | Photographer | Artist | Activist

We Have the Resources

People claim that we can’t ensure everyone’s basic needs are met (food, shelter, clothing, fresh water, etc). Yet it’s not because we lack the resources to do it. We as a society lack the COMPASSION and EMPATHY to do it.

UPDATE: Some people have stated that the only rights we have are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This is wrong on SO many levels, the least of which because the original phrase was from John Locke, and it was “life, liberty, and property.” Jefferson, like most of the founding fathers, was against everyone having property, because that would mean that they were all equal to those in power. So Jefferson switched out “property” with “pursuit of happiness.” This ensured that only those who had property would be those in power, and they then could set forth the rule that only those who were men of a certain age who owned land could have a say in the new government.

It had nothing to do with wanting everyone happy. It had to do with keeping certain groups of people out of power, and maintaining the power of the rich, white, male elite. The founding fathers didn’t want equality for all, so to claim that the only rights we have are rights that were plagiarized and changed slightly to ensure an imbalance of power, is a claim filled with ignorance.

Transcribed from Twitter moment “We have the resources, but we refuse to use them“

Everyone deserves shelter. Everyone deserves fresh & safe water. Everyone deserves enough food to eat, and that that food isn’t just cheap “filler” foods such as pastas and rice. Everyone deserves adequate heating and cooling to help ensure proper health and homeostasis. Everyone deserves top level healthcare, not just the rich.

For some reason, people believe that the basic needs for survival should be conditional, or that to provide them means taking from someone else. Some people even claim that to make sure everyone has their basic needs met would turn others into slaves!

Because we’ve been raised as a society to believe that not everyone deserves the basic needs to survive.

I look around and see houses standing empty while people are living on the streets, unable to afford shelter. I see food stores destroying left over food instead of donating it to food banks while people go hungry. I see clothing manufacturers destroying clothes that aren’t “perfect” instead of donating them or giving them to those in need of clothes. I see companies buying up water rights and selling the water for inflated costs while whole communities are left without water. Flint, Michigan isn’t the only community without water to even take a shower. Many of the people on the reservations have been without safe water for far longer.

Here’s a hint. The resources are there, it is greed and disregard for others that is preventing access to said resources. When we put a dollar sign on the things people need to survive, we are saying as a society that only those with money deserve to live. We as a society are telling people that unless they have money, they are not deserving of what they need to survive. Because of this, we have people who are unable to give back to society due to their inability to have their basic needs met. We’ve seen that if we make sure people have their needs met, then they are more able to put back into the system that helped them.

NO ONE deserves to live in poverty, or without adequate food/water/healthcare. You shouldn’t have to EARN the “right” to such things. They should be for EVERYONE regardless of “earning it.”

By actually giving two shits about people other than yourself and working to fix broken systems and systems of exploitation. The fact that we view necessities for life as something that not everyone deserves shows that the economic systems we’re using to day are flawed and detrimental to those who aren’t willing to step on others and use them.

The US would rather destroy food than let people have it if it’s left over.

Our society encourages and rewards greed and selfishness while empathy and compassion are often considered weaknesses. We make huge deals about celebrities donating to a charity, while ignoring that everyone has the ability to help out their fellow human being.

States like Utah have shown that by providing people with the basic needs for survival, such as shelter, food, water, and clothing, that people are able to start giving back to society. When they are no longer spending all of their time trying to figure out where they will sleep that night, or if they will have enough food to eat, they are able to focus on other things such as work and contributing to society.

We as a society created the problems we are having. We created them by giving the wealthy more money while taking away from those in need. We slashed the budgets for housing, food, health, education, and the like in the hopes that the rich would pick up the slack.

We’ve seen that they have no intention of doing so.

We as a society destroyed the middle class in favor of the rich minority, because we were told that if we just allowed them to get a little richer, they would fix the economy and bring prosperity to us all. We created a society of debt and poverty, and then we turn around and blame those asking for help.

Instead of blaming people for what they don’t have, how about we work on compassion and empathy?

We have the resources available, but we as a society need to learn to put our fellow human beings first instead of profits. We need to realize that the more people we shove into poverty and homelessness, the fewer people we will have to be part of the workforce.

While it might cost money up front to ensure housing, food, water, and clothing for everyone, as well as proper healthcare for everyone, the end result will be a healthier society that is able to put back into the community what they took out.

We just have to put in the effort to fix the problem, instead of blaming those who were harmed.

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Published by Michea B

I am a trans man who hails from southern Oregon. I work as a freelance writer and photographer, as well as work as a volunteer activist. I create whimsical clay creations and make YouTube videos on social issues.
View all posts by Michea B